Pantry Challenge 2011 - Update Week 1

I thought I'd been doing good staying within our $75 budget.  

I thought wrong!

I've decided to keep up with my pantry goals and update each week to see how I did.  

Here's the breakdown:

Publix:  I spent $34.40 and saved $44.38, that's 56% savings

Kroger:  Spent $28.40, saved $23.96, saving 46%

Walgreens:  Spent $26.30, saved $48.33, saving 68% (did 4 orders at the beauty counter)

So my total out of pocket expense was $89.10 UGH!!!  overbudget $14.10

I'm hoping to catch up on the deficit this week.  There aren't many good deals to pick up on so that will help. 

Can I justify for a minute?  I did get lots of stuff for my money and I got two packs of diapers at Walgreens.  Okay, I feel better now.  

I checked the prices at Publix for free-range chicken.  They were charging about $4.99/lb for chicken breasts.  The grass-fed ground beef was $3.99/lb.  We don't eat a lot of ground beef, but we do eat quite a bit of chicken.  I was so tempted to run down to Food Lion to pick up 4 chickens at $.67/lb.  I might still do it, because it's killing me!  But I know those chickens were probably kept in the dark and trampled on each other and pumped full of antibiotics.  None of which is very good for them or us.  BUT THE PRICE IS SO GOOD!!!  I'm going to have to re-train my brain on meat and poultry.  It's going to take some time.  

I talked to my beef friend on Facebook. (Hi Melissa and Ed!)  He said he could sell me a steer for $1.30/lb but I'd need to get it processed which is additional fees.  He gave me the name of the processor they use and I'll be calling them this week.  My friend Carrie is interested in purchasing half of it so that will be good to share the cost.  We might run into a problem of freezer storage space.  Our freezer is FULL.  I cleaned it out recently and bought some meat last month along with frozen vegetables, so it's full again.  I also keep a good stash of bread on hand in the freezer.  So that takes up a whole shelf.  My husband suggested we purchase a chest freezer from Craigslist used solely for the beef.  I think that's a great idea, so he's going to be keeping an eye on Craigslist for any that might come available. 

As for eating from the pantry, I thawed some Lentil soup for lunches this week.  We also ate Tuna Fish Sandwiches for lunch over the weekend.  I'll be sharing another Pantry Meal on Saturday using up some frozen shrimp from the box.  I found a pumpkin pie in the freezer, so I baked it Sunday and we're eating on it for dessert this week. 

A friend shared how to create recipes through sparkpeople and it will calculate the number of calories per serving.  I'm planning to add this feature to the recipes I share.

Have a great week!